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How much would you/did you spend on your wedding?

I heard on the radio the other day that the average wedding in the US is $30,000. Absolutely crazy unless you have the money to just **** away.
 
Seems like that money could be better spent on the honeymoon, perhaps some sort of down payment on a house, pay off student loans, car payments.....etc.
 
Goothrey said:
Also, if you are paying thousands and don't manage to have an open bar, you have failed greatly.
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You serious? Are you aware that an open bar alone can add $4000-$5000 onto the tab with a few hundred guests? Hell, just reserving a reception hall + food can quickly reach $10,000. Excuse me if I am wrong, but it doesn't seem as though you've experienced the process first hand.
 
I have helped pay for one already, and spending $20K-30K, can buy a nice, but far from extravagant wedding when you get much of a crowd. I would have much preferred to take that same money and convince her to use it in a more practical way, but my daughter was convinced like the vast majority of young ladies, that they just have to have a wedding to remember. 3 years later, they were divorced.

It IS absolutely crazy to spend money like that on a wedding, but people do it every day and it's really not well spent money IMO.
 
We kept ours under 4k and I thought it was more than enough to spend. Provided dinner and one keg. Nice cake, dj etc. We did wheel and deal a bit and my lovely wife found a dress for 100 bucks. 20k is not worth it Imo.
 
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I told my daughters not to expect me to pay that kind of money for a wedding (I can't come close to being able to afford that twice). Told them I'd help out but not to expect more than $2-3000 toward a wedding as I just don't have that much money waiting to be spent. (still working on paying off bills I got after a divorce :sad:)
 
The marriage license is $35. Not sure how much for the JP. What more do you need? You will be just as married as anyone else.

Last wedding I attended, a couple of kids got married in the parents' backyard and one of their friends performed the ceremony. At one point, he recited the part from The Princess Bride, about mawwidge.

[video]https://youtu.be/u2m6sHROA3U[/video]
 
Married a Polish girl, we had to stick to their traditions. Paid in the neighborhood of $25k - 30k for it in total, not including honeymoon. Her parents helped a lot and we got about half of it back from money from the reception.
And it was one hell of a party. That was 5 years ago.

That said, I would have preferred we spend $10k had only close family and friends. Cheap wedding can be done, just difficult in a big city, cause the venues see you coming, and they know the bride needs it all.

One of my wifes friends did her wedding at a Mexican resort. Supposedly because it was cheaper, it wasn't, especially since she is very particular and had to bring, table cloths and plates and all this ****. She defeated the purpose of having a destination wedding.
 
Our wedding next year will probably come in around $20-25,000 and it won't be terribly extravagant.

Reception Hall: $2,000
Food: $4,000
Bar: $3,000
Bride/Bridesmaid dresses: $2,000
Wedding Party Tuxes: $1,000
Decorations: $1,000
Flowers: $1,000
DJ: $1,000
Photographer: $1,000

That's $16,000 without really even batting an eye.

Could we do a wedding cheaper? Definitely. Have I been to enough weddings that you can tell the bride and groom cut every little corner they could? Yep, and for the most part those weddings sucked. No alcohol, had to clear your own tables to get ready for the dance, Uncle Bob with the 87 Corsica pulled into the doorway blaring music made the dance side more awful than normal, etc.
 
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18k with honeymoon included. That was about 3k over budget, but not much else we could have cut out and still kept it at an acceptable level for my wife.
 
Just a bit over $5000

We got married in Las Vegas and let them take care of all of the work! Saved a ton of money, got married in a very classy wedding hall, and all of our guest had a blast!
 
Complete waste of money (but good luck picking the right gal that agrees with you- I did).

We spent around $5000 total. $500 on the wedding, $4500 on the honeymoon. It helped that we are both older and have been down that road before. Just had a small wedding with immediate family at home, so costs were for some flowers, a dress and to pay the minister. No real reception other than out to eat at a nice restaurant.

I really can't imagine why a young couple just starting out would want to saddle themselves with that kind of debt or expenditure just starting out.
 
IcSyU said:
Have I been to enough weddings that you can tell the bride and groom cut every little corner they could? Yep, and for the most part those weddings sucked.
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True, it's more fun to go to a FFOTTE (full-fledged over-the-top extravaganza) and quietly mock the participants for every ridiculous detail.

Went to a wedding once in Houston that had a Wedding Planner who wouldn't allow a couple of late-arriving guests to slip in and to discreetly take a seat in the back because it was TIME for the bride's Triumphant Appearance, and she had a Schedule, g*ddammit.

You're right. OCD weddings are the most entertaining.
 
Currently planning one, our original budget was about 15k. But now we are closer to 20k plus about 5k on honeymoon. And that's with 225 people.
 
Mine cost around 5 to 6k. Got married in 2010 in Ames. Reception was in Nevada community center. Pictures were a gift from wife's cousin who is a photographer. Invited over 200 people and had 2 kegs. Food was from hyvee. Went and sampled it all before selecting what we wanted. Tasted fine to me. Food and drinks was under $10 per person. We made our own song playlist with the help of some iTunes cards, and had a friend run the computer. Wife made the flower arrangements with stuff from hobby lobby and had $100 dress. Probably double that after adjustments. We made our own brownie cake. That number doesn't include the rehearsal dinner.
 
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